


vitriol, spice, and something nice

by rowdyhomo



Series: of floral and inks [1]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, and though not mentioned directly izumo is a tattoo artist/piercer, shiemi is a florist, the word fuck is used twice hence t-rating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 11:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13122372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowdyhomo/pseuds/rowdyhomo
Summary: shiemi flirts like a fledging swan swims, with awkward fits and spurts and the rare moment of graceful brilliance. izumo is unfortunately charmed.





	vitriol, spice, and something nice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sxlen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sxlen/gifts).



_BAM_!

Shiemi’s eyes snap up from where she’s tenderly tending to a bonsai plant. The young woman in her flower shop’s doorway locks eyes with her. A sheepish sort of blush stains the tips of her ears despite her stubborn frown as the woman catches the door and gently keeps it from slamming behind her. Shiemi thinks that might be the end of it, that the woman is simply anxious and had mistakenly slammed the door open with misjudged force.

It’s not.

Scowling, the woman stalks forward, stomping steps so purposeful that Shiemi is uncomfortably reminded of funeral drums. Her gaze burns with enough spite that Shiemi feels she might just wilt like a plant faced with too much sun and salted earth.

She doesn’t.

It’s a near thing, though. The woman is _gorgeous,_ despite, or perhaps because of, the fact she resembles a terrifyingly, vengeful goddess more than anything human in this moment. The piercings in her brow, nose, and below her lips, though minimal, bring an extra fierceness to her face and her _legs_. Lean and muscled and made all the longer by her high-waisted shorts, they’re to die for—Shiemi shakes herself, beating back the thoughts as rapidly as she can before drawing on her long-practiced customer service mask. Her smile is shakier than she’d prefer, but it’s better than being a completely useless, sputtering lesbian.

“Hello!” Shiemi greets cheerfully, pleased when her voice fails to crack. “Welcome to Moriyama’s your one stop destination for all your floral and herbal needs—”

The woman arrives at the counter and slams down a wad of bills, interrupting the blonde brusquely, “How’d I passive-aggressively say ‘fuck you’ in flower?”

Shiemi’s brain stutters.

“Um?”

“’Fuck you’, passive aggressively. In flower,” repeats the woman, a deepening frown accentuating her snake bites. Her eyes narrow suspiciously at Shiemi. “You _do_ know flower language, don’t you”

Shiemi blinks, glances down at the wad of what looks like ones, then locks eyes with the woman once more. Her previous fury seems to be shading towards a lower burning irritation, boredom, and, worst of all, _disappointment_.

Well, that simply won’t do.

“Of course—” Shiemi clears throat, pitching her voice louder. She’s already moving from behind the service counter to pick her way through the disorganized selection the shop offers. “You’d need a bouquet of several flowers to get the full meaning. Let’s see…orange lilies would be most obvious, it stands for hatred. But then you’d need to temper it with softer meanings if you’re trying to be indirect…foxglove, perhaps? For insincerity? Then maybe yellow carnations, depending on what you’re giving these for, those carry a message of disappointment, specifically, the receiver disappointing you. Hm... what else…?”

Shiemi continues murmuring to herself, the bouquet building as she goes along. Her fingers pick at the lower end of the stems, as she glides along, brain ticking off what else might fit into the arrangement.

“Got anything for stupidity or uselessness?” calls out the woman from the front counter.

The blonde pauses in her perusal then takes off like a shot towards the front corner of the store, “Geraniums and meadowsweet!”

Flowers gathered, Shiemi makes her way back to the front, already arranging the flowers. Once at the counter she lays them flat, clips the stems, and wraps them in crinkly wrapping paper with habitual flourish.

“There!” chirps Shiemi, proud of her creation even with the negativity that lay in it. “It’s quite a striking arrangement, really.”

And full of loathing, she doesn’t say, wincing internally.

The purple-haired woman eyes the arrangement up and down, a noise of satisfaction escaping her. She picks up the rolls of bills and makes to count them.

“How much?”

Struggling to keep her hands from shaking, Shiemi smooths down the front of her unwrinkled smock while offering the woman a picture-perfect smile of serenity. Her cheeks flush warmly but her voice is steady as she beams, “Oh, not much. Just a name, and a phone number, preferably, but we could just set up a date now if you’d like!”

The woman, already flicking through the bills, pauses, ruby red slowly sliding up to meet earthy green in disbelief. For a distressingly long moment, Shiemi is certain that she’s about to be decked in her own shop. To her delight, she remains unpunched while the fiercely beautiful woman flushes a brilliant red from roots of her hair down to the top of her high-necked tank top. Shiemi doesn’t even bother stopping herself from imagining just how far down the woman’s chest the flush goes.

The woman splutters, hands clutching her bills near her chest as if to ward off evil, “Wh-what?”

Shiemi resists the urge to take back her words and stuff them handily down her own throat along with her foot, her hands fluttering about her like nervous butterflies, as she stutters, “Oh, um—well, I mean—I, uh, I understand if you’re uncomfortable that was absolutely out of nowhere and I’m so sorry about that. Making you uncomfortable, I mean. But! I promise I’m not a serial killer or otherwise creepy or anything!”

“ _What_ ,” chokes the woman.

Choking on her response in turn as her own words register, Shiemi covers hers face with her hands. A whine escapes her as she drops her head to the counter with an audible thump.

“14.99,” mumbles out Shiemi, voice muffled by hands and counter. Gods, why did she _say that_. Another whine builds up in her throat as Shiemi accepts her fate to die a lonely spinster.

A pause. 

“Izumo.”

Shiemi’s head whips up so fast something in her neck _cracks_.

“Huh?”

“Izumo. My name it’s—that’s my name,” mumbles the woman, no, Izumo. Her flush is no less brilliant for all that it’s slowly toning down. Izumo huffs, planting her hands on her hips as she shifts her weight to one foot. She’s not quite looking at Shiemi, lips pursed in a way that says she’s struggling to maintain her cool façade. Her nose scrunches adorably as she adds, “And if you really want my phone number then you can take me to the cat café in town for lunch. Thursday. My lunch break is at one.”

Clasping her hands in front of her, Shiemi couldn’t have stopped her excited grin if she wanted to.

“ _Really_?” gasps Shiemi, breathlessly. The spinster’s life is but a distant nightmare. Rapidly eclipsed by the sun that is Izumo’s acceptance.

Izumo crosses her arms, waving a dismissive hand.

“Yeah, yeah _, really_ , don’t get too excited,” she says, sounding unduly high and mighty for someone still red as a tomato. Her gaze snaps back to Shiemi as she jabs a finger in the blonde’s direction. “I’m still gonna pay you for these flowers, though! It’s just plain unethical, otherwise.”

Beaming wider than the horizon, Shiemi bobs her head agreeably, exchanging Izumo’s cash for the flowers and change, “It’s a date!”

Izumo takes the bouquet from Shiemi, face burning in a truly concerning fashion when their hands brush, then she all but flees the flower shop muttering something about florists being entirely too pretty for their own good.

Shiemi settles her chin into her hands, sighing dreamily. That hadn’t gone at all as she’d been expecting for a Monday afternoon but all’s well that ends well, right?

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this tumblr post: http://koscheiis.tumblr.com/post/145738369188/flower-shop-au
> 
> for selen <3


End file.
